No Makeup
by disneyfananalyst
Summary: A collection of Doug/Evie related one-shots. What happens when Doug sees Evie without makeup? These one shots become a slight prequel to "Scars Exposed and Secrets Unfold" in part III. Mentions Ben/Mal.
1. Chapter 1: No Makeup Part 1

**Disclaimer: Descendants is property of Disney Channel. I make no claim to own the characters, and have only written this only with love for Descendants and its characters. Thank you.**

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Evie smiled as she closed the door to her dorm room behind her. She dumped her backpack by her desk, and sighed as she pulled her heels off. Why do such beautiful shoes have to be so painful? Maybe she should start designing her own. No one made shoes that were comfortable and fashionable. It wasn't like Evie didn't know how to work with leather. But what to do about the soles? Evie looked at the clock as she removed her makeup. It was almost ten o' clock, and Mal was still out with Ben. Evie smiled at the thought. Since the cotillion, Ben had gotten into the habit of dragging Mal off to his meetings with him. Mal claimed to disdain the meetings, but she liked getting to spend the time with Ben, especially if they could catch a minute to themselves.

A knock at the door pulled Evie out of her thoughts. "Mal! It's unlocked. Did you forget your key again?" She turned towards the door, and heard Doug's voice.

"Uh, it's just me...May I come in?"

"Oh! Um.. One minute!" Evie turned to the mirror. "Poisoned apples!" She'd already taken off all of her makeup. She couldn't let Doug see her like this! She didn't let anyone see her like this. Mom would tell her she looked like a homely, hideous, and disappointing eyesore if she didn't do her makeup right, let alone if she wasn't wearing any! What could she do?

"Evie, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, totally fine." Doug could hear the nervous flutter in her voice. Something was definitely wrong.

"I'm coming in okay?"

"Um, yeah, yeah." Doug cautiously opened the door, seeing Evie with her back to him, hands up over her face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked as he dropped a folder on her desk, going to put a comforting hand on her shoulder. He noticed she was starting to hyperventilate, so he wrapped his arms around his waist to hold her. "It's okay. It's okay. Just breath in and out." Evie started to match his breathing. "That's it. Now why don't you tell me what happened, and we can go from there." Doug tried to turn her around to look at him, but she still hid her face with her hands. "It's okay," he hugged her again, and she let her hands drop from her face to hug him back, resting her chin on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Oh, Evie," he hugged her tighter, "you have nothing to be sorry about." She pulled away, and looked down at the floor.

"I-I'm not wearing any makeup." She could feel her face reddening. Doug pulled her chin up to make her look at him. She had a few small freckles on her cheeks and nose, and he could see the circles under her eyes from lack of sleep. _She's absolutely beautiful,_ he thought, _but she needs to rest more often._

"Evie," he said, " you don't have to wear makeup for me." Her blush deepened, and she pulled away, putting her face in her palms again.

"I look like such a mess."

"Evie," Doug murmured, taking her in his arms again.

"Just don't look at me, okay?" She was starting to hyperventilate again, and tears ran down her face. "You p-probably don't want to be with me anymore. It's okay, you can leave. I'm just a -"

Doug couldn't hear what she said, but he didn't care. He forced her to look at him again, and used his thumb to wipe some of her tears from her cheek.

"Evie, of course I want to be with you. I would never, ever, leave you. You are so beautiful, even without your makeup. You're perfect, in every way. You're bold, and you're sweet, and you're smart. No one else talks and asks about science like you do, and you're creative. Who else runs their own dress company?" Evie almost smiled through the tears still falling from her eyes, but Doug wasn't done. "And your heart, Evie." He gripped her shoulders "You have the biggest heart of anyone I've ever known. Every day I wonder how I was ever so lucky to meet a girl as amazing as you, how I could be so lucky to be your boyfriend,"

"Doug-" he put a finger to her lips.

"but I am. Evie, I love you, makeup or no makeup, and nothing could ever change that because you're you."

Evie searched his face for a hint that he might be lying, but Doug only smiled, and stroked her cheek again with his thumb.

"You- you don't care if I look like a mess?"

"Evie, you don't look like a mess, but I'd still love you if you did." He brightened his tone a little. "If you want to see a mess though, you should see my Uncle Sneezy's house during allergy season." Evie cracked a smile, so Doug kept going. "My poor Aunt Eileen has to live with him and my cousin Sean. His allergies are even worse!" Evie finally laughed, and Doug grinned. "I love that, too."

Evie laughed. "You love your cousins allergies?"

"No," Doug chuckled, "I love your laugh." Evie blushed.

"Oh."

Doug gestured to the folder he had dropped on her desk. "You left your English folder at the library, and I wanted to give it to you tonight, in case I don't see you before your class tomorrow morning." Evie's smile brightened.

"My knight in shining glasses," she chuckled.

Doug glanced at Evie's clock, "I should go, but I'll see you tomorrow." He kissed her forehead, glad she wasn't wearing heels, and turned to leave. As he opened the door, Evie stopped him.

"Doug?"

"Yeah?" He turned back to see her smile.

"I love you," Doug smiled back.

"I love you, too, Princess," and he closed the door behind him.


	2. Chapter 2: No Makeup Part II

**A/N: So I've decided to turn this one shot into a collection of related Doug/Evie one shots. Thank you if you took the time to review, they made me Dizzy-level happy. I hope you enjoy Part II of "No Makeup"!**

 **Disclaimer: Descendants is property of Disney Channel. I make no claim to own the characters, and have only written this only with love for Descendants and its characters. Thank you.**

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No Makeup Part II:

Where is Evie? That certainly seemed to be the question of the day, or at least, for Doug. He was lucky enough to have her in almost all of his classes, since Evie was an honors student like him, but she hadn't been in any of them. It wasn't like her to ditch class, and she'd even missed a test they had in Chemistry. Something had to be wrong. Maybe she was hurt. Maybe her constant juggling act wore her out. Doug knew that she needed a break.

"Mal!" Doug called, finally managing to locate Evie's roommate on her way to art class. She turned and his questions came out of his mouth in a jumbled mess. "Where's Evie? Is she okay? Do I need to-"

"Doug," Mal interrupted. "Evie wasn't feeling too good this morning, and I took her - or more like forced her - to go see Fairy Godmother. Apparently she has a cold."

"Oh."

"Fairy Godmother excused her from her classes, and is checking on her to make sure she's okay." Mal paused. "Or to make sure she doesn't try to sneak out to class... She really wanted to take a test."

Doug smiled. Evie had studied so hard for that Chemistry test, and he had known she wouldn't want to miss it. He frowned again remembering that she was sick.

"Okay, um, I hope she feels better."

Mal gave him a smirk, saying, "I'm sure she'll appreciate it," before she walked off.

The rest of the day seemed to drag on, even though Doug usually enjoyed his classes. He just wanted to go see Evie. His last class finally let out and he headed back to his room to take some EmergenC. Shoving a few extra packets into his backpack, he practically ran over to the girls' dorm. He stopped when he reached Evie's room. Maybe she wouldn't want to see him. She was sick; she might just want to sleep. He almost turned around to go back when the door burst open.

"Oh great! Doug's here." Mal practically pulled him into the room, and Evie turned away so that she was sitting on her bed with her back to Doug. "Can you please tell Evie to relax? First she's talking about disinfectant, then it's cleaning, and then she's worried about class. She needs to rest, so that she can go _back_ to class." After giving Evie a pointed look, Mal turned to Doug, "I'm going to try and make some soup, because _somebody_ barely touched her lunch. Make sure she doesn't pull anything." Mal waltzed out the door and the room was silent for a moment.

"I brought you my notes from class today," Doug said nervously.

Evie turned her face to the floor before she said, "Thank you." She was wearing a grey Auradon t-shirt and short little pajama shorts that made him want to say "Hi-ho" like he had every day since he met her. He dropped his backpack and walked over to her bed to sit down facing the door, thinking it would be awkward to stand by the door until Mal returned.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Not too great."

Her voice was raspy, and Doug could tell that it was hard for her to talk. Neither of them said anything for a while, until Doug rubbed Evie's back saying,

"If you don't want to see me that's okay. I could wait by the door, or get you a book or water or -"

"No," Evie started to turn around, but bowed her head again. She wouldn't look directly at him. "I'm glad you're here, it's just," she paused before she murmured "I'm not wearing any makeup."

Doug stopped. That's what this was about? Remembering the first time he saw her without her makeup, he moved closer to her on the bed and reached out to stroke his hands down her shoulders.

"It's okay, you don't need makeup for me, remember? I love you, no matter what."

She moved her hand closer to Doug, whispering,

"Really?"

Doug smiled as he wrapped his arm around her waist to turn her towards him. She didn't fight.

"Really." Evie smiled at him, raising the little freckles on her cheeks to her eyes. He reached up to caress her face. "You are so beautiful."

Evie's smile brightened, and her flushed face reddened some more. Doug remembered suddenly that she was sick, and raised the back of his hand to her forehead.

"You feel a little warm. Have you had a fever today? Chills?" he asked with concern. Evie frowned again.

"Yeah. That's why Fairy Godmother insisted I stay in my room. She doesn't want me spreading anything." She paused and then pulled away. "Maybe you should go. I don't want to get you sick." She groaned, closing her eyes. "Mal's probably going to get sick, too."

Doug smiled again. Of course. Even when she was sick, Evie was worrying about everyone else.

"Actually, I took some immune boosters, so don't worry about me." He glanced at his backpack by the door. "I brought a few extras, too. Mal should have one, to stop her from getting sick, and if you want one, it should help you feel better. Should I make it for you?" Evie smiled at how thoughtful he was.

"Okay."

Doug pulled a packet out of his backpack, and mixed it into a glass of water before he brought it back to Evie, and joined her on the bed.

"It might taste funny, but it's not too bad," Doug warned.

Evie raised an eyebrow before she took a drink. She gave him a funny look before she drank the rest of the glass.

"What?" he asked. "Is it really that bad?"

Evie started to laugh, until that caused a coughing fit, and Doug soothingly rubbed her back.

"It tasted fine," she said when she could talk again. Doug smiled half-heartedly, still worried about her cough. "Doug, I'm fine," she protested, reaching her hand up to the side of her head.

"No, you're obviously not. You have a fever, a cough, and probably more that you aren't telling me about." The corners of Evie's mouth twitched into a smile.

"Your worrying is giving me a headache," she joked.

"I think I can help with that." Doug eased Evie so that she was laying with her head on his lap, and massaged her temples causing her to close her eyes and sigh. "Better?"

"Yes, that feels so good." Glad that he could do something to relax her, Doug continued his small circles, and after a few minutes, Evie drifted off to sleep. Doug smiled at his princess asleep in his lap. Finally she would rest.

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 **A/N: I forgot to mention that I will be taking requests if you have one. Thanks again!**


	3. Chapter 3: No Makeup Part III

**A/N: Hey guys, thank you all for reading, and a special thank you to twilight sparkle for the request. I'm sorry that I changed it a little bit, but** **I really love how it turned out and hope you do, too.** **When I reached the end, I couldn't resist writing a bit from Ben's perspective. If you have read my story "Scars Exposed and Secrets Unfold", this kind of ties in with that as a prequel, even though I hadn't originally intended it. Thanks!  
**

 **Disclaimer: Descendants is property of Disney Channel. I make no claim to own the characters, and have only written this only with love for Descendants and its characters. Thank you.**

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Mal rolled over to her side, pulling her pillow over her head to drown out the knocking on the door.

"Evie, get the door," she mumbled. When the knocking continued, she huffed and sat up looking around the room to see the bathroom door closed. _She must be in the shower,_ Mal thought, and she dragged herself over to open the door. Ben looked back at Mal in confusion.

"Mal, why aren't you dressed? We're supposed to meet my parents for breakfast at nine." Mal stared back at him confused.

"Yeah, but why are you here so early? My alarm hasn't even gone off yet."

"Mal," Ben said carefully, "it's almost 8:30."

"8:30?" Mal turned back to stare at her clock. The numbers were flashing and it read 4:36 am; It was obviously broken. "What? How? Ugggh!"

She threw her hands up and stormed over to her closet to find something to wear. Ben noticed the clock, and looked up with understanding.

"Oh… the power went out last night, so your alarm didn't go off _." Of course_ , Mal thought. Ben ran his hand through his hair, anxiously. "Will you have enough time to get ready? I can call my parents, and tell them something came up." Mal really didn't want to cancel on Ben's parents again. This was the third time that they'd had to reschedule due to "emergency" council meetings. She pulled out a purple knee length dress, and her brown leather jacket. _This is appropriate for breakfast, right?_ _Oh well._ Mal slung the dress over her shoulder.

"No, no, I'll be ready, just can you leave for a minute?" She gestured at the dress and then herself, and Ben blushed as he exited the room, standing outside the door. Mal quickly pulled the dress on, and let Ben back in as she brushed out her hair and applied foundation, still the only makeup she did without her roommate's help. "What time is it?" Ben looked at his watch.

"8:40. Are you sure you don't want to cancel?"

"No," she turned around. "Is this okay for breakfast with your parents? I don't know very much about makeup or what to wear… Evie usually helps me." As she finished, the bathroom door opened, and Evie came out in her pajamas, dabbing her face with a towel.

"Mal, did you say my na-" her voice cut into a scream as she saw Ben. She ran back into the bathroom, slamming and the door behind her.

"E?" Mal walked to the bathroom door, trying the handle _. Locked. Of course._ "E, it's just Ben. It's okay."

Ben started to ask, "Why did-", but Mal interrupted.

"She thinks you saw her without makeup."

"Why would she-" Mal cut him off again.

"You don't want to know." She put one hand to her forehead. "E, it's okay. Can you unlock the door?"

Ben didn't know how to respond. He stood there dumbfounded as Mal tried to quiet the sobs coming from the other side of the door. _What was going on? Why would Evie be this upset over him seeing her without makeup? I didn't really see her, either. Maybe I should mention that…_ Ben cleared his throat, causing Mal to turn to him in annoyance. "I didn't actually see anything." Mal looked back at the door again.

"It's okay. Ben didn't see you. He wouldn't care anyway." She sighed, and Ben went to answer a knock on the door to the hallway.

"Doug. Hi. What are you doing here?"

"I came to pick Evie up for breakfast." He shifted on and off the balls of his feet. "I know I'm early, but Evie said to knock instead of waiting outside this time." Ben looked at Mal, who was still trying to get Evie to open the bathroom door.

"E, please-"

"Okay, come in. Um about Evie…"

Doug noticed almost immediately that something was wrong.

"What's going on?" he asked. Mal sighed, and moved away from the door.

"Evie's thinks Ben saw her with no makeup, and has locked herself in the bathroom." She looked at Ben, obviously scared. "I don't even know how to help her. Last time she was this upset, it took me all night to calm her down, and that was when it was just me. Not anyone else."

Doug frowned, remembering how his girlfriend reacted when he first saw her with no makeup. That was weeks ago, and she was still sensitive about it. Doug never would have guessed that someone with her confidence would be so insecure, but it was just like his Uncle Doc said: there's always more to a person than what you see at first glance. In Doug's eyes, Evie had proved that everyday since she came to Auradon. Now, his princess was crying her eyes out, and probably because of something that her mother told her years ago. She didn't deserve this. Doug had to do something.

"Let me try." He walked over to the bathroom door. "Evie? It's me, Doug. May I come in? You don't have to talk about it, okay?" The sobs coming from the other side of the door started to slow down. At least she was listening to him. "I don't care if you have makeup on, you're always beautiful to me, remember?" The sobs coming from the other side of the door quieted a little bit. Now he was getting somewhere. "It's just me, Doug, your nerdy accountant who's hopelessly in love with you." There was a distinct "click" as Evie must have unlocked the door. "I'm coming in, okay?" Doug slowly pushed the door open to let himself in. Mal started to come back to the door to comfort her friend, but Doug shook his head, closing the door behind him. He _had_ said it was just him.

Doug found Evie sitting on the floor with her back against the wall beside the door. He sat down next to her and wrapped her in a hug as she hid her face in her hands. He just wished he could take her pain away.

"Hey, hey, hey," he whispered. "It's okay. Everything's going to be okay." Evie leaned into him, and he stroked her back. "You are beautiful, Evie, without makeup. I love you so much." She moved her hands from her face to gaze back at Doug.

"love- you- too," she gasped, finally starting to calm down.

"Do you know who else loves you?" Evie stared at Doug in confusion.

"Jay and Carlos," he said. "You know they think of you as their sister. They love you too, and they don't care if you wear makeup. They're just happy to see you happy." He used his thumb to wipe away some of the tears underneath her eyes. "Can you imagine what Jay would do if he was out there? He would break down the door." Evie smiled at the thought of Jay knocking down the door. It reminded her of when he tried to knock down the door at the museum, but Mal had opened it first with magic, and he landed on his back. Doug noticed the smile, and kept going. "But Mal is out there, and she loves you too. You always tell me she's the sister you never had." Evie's smile brightened. "She doesn't care if you wear makeup, either. You know you're the only reason that she even wears makeup sometimes." Evie almost laughed. Since Cotillion, Mal hadn't worn much makeup at all unless Evie made her. "We all love you, and we don't care if you wear makeup. What anyone else thinks doesn't matter because you are beautiful, Evie, with or without makeup, and we will always love you. I will always love you." Her eyes glistening with unshed tears, Evie reached her arms up to rest around Doug's neck.

"How did you get to be so wise?" she whispered, causing Doug to smile.

"I don't know. How did you get to be so smart?" Evie blushed. Before she could reply, Doug asked, "May I tell Mal that you're okay? You don't have to go out if you don't want to." Evie nodded. Her head was starting to clear, but she still gripped Doug's hand as he turned to open the door a crack.

"Everything's okay, Mal, we're just going to stay here for a while."

"E, are you okay? Do you want me to come in? Or I can wait out here for you-"

Evie cut Mal off, her voice still weak from crying. "I-I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

On the other side of the door, Ben guiltily glanced at his watch again.

"Mal, we should leave if we're still meeting my parents. I can still call and tell them that we can't make it." Mal sighed. She really didn't want to leave Evie, but there was nothing she could do if she stayed.

"No, that's okay. E," she called into the bathroom. "I'm going to leave to meet with Ben's parents, okay? If you need _anything,_ call me. I will come right back-"

"Mal," Evie said through the door. "Go. You need this. Don't worry about me." Mal sighed, not wanting to argue with her friend.

"Okay, but please call me if you need anything." Mal heard a soft "okay" from the bathroom, and pulled a worried Ben out of her dorm room with her. _Well,_ she mused hopefully, _maybe since Doug could get her to let him in, she's in in good hands._

In the bathroom, Evie leaned her head against Doug's shoulder. He wrapped his arms back around her, and she shifted closer.

"I love you, Doug."

"I love you too, Evie."

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That night as Ben tried to go to sleep, he worried. _Why did Evie get so upset this morning from me seeing her without makeup? She's the calmest and most collected of the villains' kids, but when she thought I saw her without makeup she screamed and locked herself in the bathroom. She knows that I would never do anything to hurt her, right? She_ is _my Counselor for the Isle_. _And Mal said I wouldn't want to know why that upset her. Why? I do want to know._ He remembered then the last time that one of the villains' kids told him "you don't want to know". That was Jay's explanation for the tunnel to Uma's pirate ship when they first arrived on the Isle to bring back Mal. _Why would they want to hide this stuff from me? I just want to help. Maybe I'm overthinking this. Maybe Jay didn't want to explain the ship because of the rivalry thing, and maybe Mal didn't want to tell me about why Evie was upset because she didn't know if Evie wanted me to know. Maybe that's it. Yeah._ Ben drifted off to sleep, but that would not be the last night that he would wonder about his friends secrets.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Hi guys... I'm sorry that it's been so long. The last few months of school were crazy, and I didn't realize how hard it would be to get some alone time with my laptop after coming home.

To TwilightSparkle: I'm so sorry that it has been this long, but I tried to make it worth the wait.

Thank you for all your support.

Disclaimer: Descendants is property of Disney Channel. I make no claim to own the characters, and have only written this only with love for Descendants and its characters. Thank you.

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Evie smiled sadly as Doug walked her to the door of Belle and Beast's castle. Auradon Prep was having one of their school breaks to allow students to spend time with their families, but Doug had said that he wanted to spend the evening with her before he headed to Charmington in the morning to visit his family. Unfortunately, now the evening was ending. The break was only for a few days and they could FaceTime, but Evie was still sad to see him go.

"I had a really nice time tonight," she said. Doug blushed.

"I did, too."

"Good night, Doug. Have a safe trip home." Evie leaned in to kiss him on the cheek before she opened the door."

"Good night. I love you." She looked back at Doug and smiled.

"I love you, too." She sighed after she closed the door behind her. Lumiere entered the room to see who had come into the castle so late at night. It was really only eight o'clock, but most visitors left the castle before seven.

"Ahh, mademoiselle Evie, is there anything that you need tonight before I retire?" She smiled and shook her head.

"No, but thank you, Lumiere. Have a good night." He gave her a nod, and she headed upstairs to her room. Beast and Belle had given each of the villain kids a room for over school breaks, not wanting them to feel pressured to go visit the Isle. Mal didn't have anyone to go visit anyways, and Evie, Jay, and Carlos had accepted the invitation without hesitation. They would accept any excuse to avoid seeing their parents. Being able to stick together only made the decision easier. Evie closed the door to her room and began her nightly routine. She usually wouldn't go to bed until eleven on a Friday night, but Doug was leaving around six, and she wanted to surprise him and see him off. She put on her pajamas, brushed out her hair, and washed her face. She was about ready to crawl into bed when she heard a knock on the door and Ben stepped into her room. She jumped and screamed.

"Hey, Evie, sorry I'm late. I didn't mean to startle you. The Planners Committee meeting -" he stopped as he saw her duck behind the bed. "Are you okay?" He approached the other side of the bed. "Did I do something? Should I go get…" he trailed off as he saw a blur of blue dash past him and out the door. "I should go get Mal," he sighed with resignation.

* * *

"Come in!" Mal looked up from her sketchbook and smiled as the door opened to reveal her boyfriend. "Ben," her smile faded as she noticed the worried expression on his face. "What happened?" Ben shifted his feet nervously.

"You know how I was supposed to have a meeting about the Isle kids with Evie tonight at eight?" Mal nodded. The Council wanted to hear about the next group of kids tomorrow morning, so Ben had wanted to doublecheck some things with Evie tonight. "I was a little late, and um, I think I scared her." Mal frowned. Evie was tough. Ben wouldn't scare her unless…

"How did you scare her?" He ran a hand through his hair nervously.

"I'm not really sure… I knocked, let myself in, and she screamed." Mal closed her eyes and groaned. _Not again._

"Ben, do you remember a few weeks ago, when she locked herself in the bathroom?" Ben nodded, not seeing where she was going with this. "Do you remember why?"

"Yeah, she thought I saw- ohhhhh!" His eyes widened as he realized what was going on, but Mal was already taking control of the situation and was on her way out the door.

"I'll go talk to her." Ben grabbed her shoulder to stop her and then winced as she turned back to face him.

"That may not be possible right now?"

"Why?" Mal asked, suddenly frightened.

"Uh, Evie might of, um…"

"Evie might have what?"

"Evie might have ran off."

* * *

Doug rolled back onto his side again and tossed his blankets aside, checking the clock as he got out of bed. _This is getting preposterous._ He'd been trying to sleep for the past half an hour, but something kept him awake. _I'm just being irrational. Everything is fine. I need to just go to sleep._ He paced next to his bed for a moment trying to figure out what to do to subside his uneasiness and get some sleep when he was startled by his phone ringing. _Mal. Maybe something really is wrong._

 **"Doug?"**

"Yes?"

 **"Have you seen Evie?"** Doug felt his stomach drop.

"No, why? What's wrong?"

 **"Ben scared her, and she ran off. They had a meeting scheduled for tonight, but she must have either forgot about it or thought he wasn't coming because he was late. I'm pretty sure he walked in when she was about to go to bed. I was hoping she might have gone to find you."** Doug took a deep breath and shook his head, trying to stay calm.

"No I haven't seen her, but I'm coming. If she's coming this way I'll find her on my way over."

 **"Thanks, bye."** The line went dead as Mal hung up the phone, and Doug hurried to throw a sweatshirt on before he rushed out the door.

Doug all but ran the half-mile from his dorm to Belle and Beast's castle, and yet he didn't feel tired. _Must be adrenaline._ He tried the castle door without even bothering to knock and was relieved when it opened without setting off some elaborate burglar trap. He immediately realized that he was walking in on an argument, as Ben was standing uncomfortably to the side as his parents talked to a very tense Mal.

"Calm down, Mal. We'll find her." Belle tried to put a comforting hand on Mal's shoulder, but she brushed it off as Adam intervened.

"I can have the guards check the perimeter, while the rest of us search the castle."

"That's not going to help!" She practically shouted. "Look, I know that you care and want to help, but the best thing you can do is go back to bed. She won't come back if she knows that there are people waiting for her, and having the guards find her would only make things worse!" Doug decided to announce himself before they wasted any more time.

"I got here as fast as I could." Mal turned, and a wave of relief washed over her. _Finally,_ she thought, _someone who actually understands the situation._ "Where have you searched so far?" Doug asked.

"I checked her bedroom again and the kitchen and the boys are checking the parlors, but before I could check anywhere else, I had to keep someone from waking the whole castle." Doug winced at the implication, but Belle interrupted.  
"Mal, sweetheart, it's no trouble to get a search party going. We just want to make sure that Evie's safe."

"Why don't you understand this? She's not going to feel safe about a whole bunch of people looking for her!"

"Aren't there already a whole bunch of people looking for her?" Ben pointed out confused. Mal, Jay, Carlos, Doug, and himself could be considered a 'whole bunch', right? Doug spoke before Mal could, hoping to diffuse the tension.

"What she means is a large group of people who don't understand why she felt the need to run off in the first place, or any of the events that led to those feelings."

"Thank you!" Mal added, while the royal family just looked confused.  
"Well then why don't you just explain to us why she ran off so we can help?" Adam asked. Mal looked ready to blow her top, so Doug answered again.

"That wouldn't be fair to Evie. When she is ready to tell you then she will, but I will not betray her trust. Besides, it wouldn't make a difference to her because she wouldn't know that you knew about it anyways." He turned to Mal. "I'm going to go check the gardens. I might know where she is," he said before turning and marching towards the glass doors at the back of the Great Hall.

Doug weaved through the rose gardens towards the spot where they met with the bluebells and daisies at a small pond. Evie loved the colors of the flowers, and tended to watch the water after a stressful day. After the sun set, string lights illuminated the pond from poles that guarded visitors from falling into the water. He spotted her on the ground by one of the poles hugging her knees to her chest. He sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her. She curled into him, and her silent sobs began to quiet.

"How- how did you-" she stopped, not knowing how to word her question. Doug guessed at what she wanted to ask.

"I couldn't sleep, and then Mal called me. I thought I might find you here." Evie nodded, and moved to just stare out over the pond as she slowly calmed down. They sat in silence for a moment.

"You know why I like this spot so much?" Evie asked. Doug just watched as her eyes lingered over the water. "On the Isle, the only time any of us went near the water was when we were fighting Uma and the Wharf Rats at the docks. That water was deadly. Infested with sharks and crocodiles, like Tic-Tock. Everything was always dark and murky, and the only one place we didn't go." She turned to face him, eyes still shining with tears, and sighed. "Here, with all the flowers around it and the lights," Evie looked back at the pond. "The water just looks… beautiful." She turned back to give Doug a soft smile. "It reminds me that there are some places where I don't have to be on guard or afraid." Doug smiled back and raised his hand to stroke her cheek. "I love you Doug."

"I love you, Evie."

It was nearly an hour before Evie and Doug returned to the castle. Mal and Jay were waiting in the Great Hall, somehow having managed to get everyone else to go back to bed. "E!" Mal hurried to meet them, Jay surpassing her to put a hand on Evie's shoulder.

"Hey, are you-?" Evie shook her head and smiled.

"I'm okay. Really." Mal and Jay exchanged a look.

"Okay, um, goodnight then," Mal said. Jay still looked concerned.

"Goodnight, Evie. My door is open." He stood there for another second, and Mal pulled his arm making him move away from Evie and towards the stairs. He clapped Doug on the back as he passed him.

"Take care of my sister." Mal looked apologetic.

"Have a good break, Doug." She pushed Jay up the stairs, leaving the couple to say goodbye, or rather 'goodnight' in Evie's case, as she still wanted to see him off in the morning.


End file.
